Nearly two hundred digital missionaries gathered in Lagos, Nigeria December 6-8 for the Indigitous Lagos conference. Professionals, students, pastors, youth leaders, and people from all walks of life converged in Lagos from Liberia, Ghana, Togo, and other parts of Nigeria in order to learn how to make Jesus known using technology.
Keynote speakers like Wale Owoeye, CEO of Cederview Technologies, talked about how Africans are leading in technology solutions and have much to offer the world. Wale challenged those in attendance to rise up and lead others in the church, using their knowledge of how to leverage technology for God’s Kingdom.
Some people traveled more than 24 hours on public transportation to get to the conference because they were so hungry for knowledge, opportunity, and empowerment. People came to learn and grow, to discover ways to connect people to Jesus through digital strategies.
This was perhaps the most grassroots Indigitous Classic conference to date, led by Jenny and other volunteers every step of the way. The volunteers worked well with local churches, with one church even sponsoring seven people to come to the conference. That church could see what I see – that digital strategies are key for the future of missions.
My first time visiting Nigeria, I learned that there is a lot more happening in this area than I realized. Indigenous leaders have risen up over the past couple years and are doing amazing Kingdom work. It was encouraging to see so many volunteer-led Indigitous communities in Nigeria that are growing and doing amazing missional work for God. During the conference, established local teams created their own initiatives, some of them continuing work on projects that began with Indigitous #HACK.
After the conference, I had the privilege of joining some of the local leaders for a Community Leaders dinner. It was a great time of connection and sharing of ideas. Everyone had an opportunity to share their strategies, their wins and challenges, and to learn from each other.
God is at work in West Africa. That much is clear from my brief time there. I’m thrilled to see the Indigitous communities pressing on with the resources God has given them and seeing great fruitfulness. Just these two weeks (after the conference) there has already been 2-3 meetups in the various cities/towns that these delegates came from! That’s how motivated they are.
These communities have fresh ideas and passionate people who want to engage in digital missions. Digital strategists, missionaries, and the global Church can learn a lot from what the Indigitous communities are doing in West Africa.
